Mixing it up

The only time that I ever feel old and out of touch with technology is when people, or should I say kiddies, talk about Mxit . The mobile social networking site has never really taken off with me but maybe that’s because my oh-so-up-to-date Nokia 3310 (read sarcasm) doesn’t quite support it. Anyway once upon a time I did have a cellphone that had WAP and 3G and I didn’t use Mxit then either. Although I’m not part of the Mxit generation, plenty of others are, mostly being high school kids.

As it seems most kids dig Mxit because they can chat away with their mates (or strangers) for as little as 2c a message. And since its mobile, kids can chat anywhere. All of a sudden Mrs Botha’s double biology period doesn’t seem so bad. Mxit is ideal for the teen market because its cheap, it’s tech-savvy, and it’s on your cellphone which means mom, dad and nosy little sister can’t read your messages.

Mxit, which was created by a South African, has become a phenomenon in this country, with nearly 5 million users. Mxit has become such a craze that even media giants have taken notice. Recently Naspers bought a 30% stake in the company. And according ITWeb, Mxit will soon be taking over the world, as the company plans to expand internationally.

But then there are also the critics of Mxit mostly being parents and teachers. You can almost hear the whine of 5 million angst ridden teens complaining “ah man, my ballies just don’t want me to have any freedom, like why cant I just, like, you know, use Mxit, why do they, like, have to try, like, control everything I, like, do hey?.”

But obviously parents and teachers have a point. They are concerned about their kid’s safety. There have been reports of young boys being lured by paedophiles (see here), young girls becoming addicted to sex chatrooms and schools over the country have raised concern over pupils not being able to concentrate in class because of Mxit (see here).

What I think is that Mxit has its pros and cons. On the pro side it is a great way to communicate with your friends as it is a whole lot cheaper. But because it is primarily used by teenagers and tweens, it does become a hunting ground for sicko’s. But then I believe it’s up to the parents to educate their kids that they must be wary of people they meet in chatrooms, especially if they plan to meet these people in real life. I don’t have all the solutions to the cons of Mxit, I do however wish I knew of Mxit when I was in high school.